Native vs. Web, the rise of GitHub, hard truths for HTML5 -- here's a look back at the year in programming trends

Where users go, developers will follow. And that means software development in 2012 continued to become increasingly mobile-centric.

While Windows and desktop Web development ruled just a few short years ago, developers now have to get on the mobile bandwagon and build for tablets and smartphones, with Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android the leading platforms of choice.

Of course, mobile was not the only major theme for software development in 2012. Technologies like GitHub, Microsoft’s Visual Studio, and the venerable Java platform also grabbed their share of headlines, including Java attracting unwanted attention for security woes.

With interest in iOS and Android development shifting to near parity in 2012 (pictured), the center of debate for mobile developers shifted from Android vs. iPhone, to native vs. the mobile Web. Spurring this shift has been an increased desire for portability across mobile platforms, coupled with an increased interest in tapping functionality and performance afforded only to apps native to the device.

Being the language of choice for building applications for iOS tablets and smartphones, the continued rise of Objective-C provided little surprise in 2012. The Tiobe Programming Community Index, which gauges the popularity of languages by examining search engines and other sites, saw Objective-C overtake C++ this year to rank third in the index, behind C and Java -- giving Objective-C the inside track on repeating as Tiobe’s Language of the Year in 2012.

Tiobe did see C++, C, and Java rise in the mobile space as well, but not as much as Objective-C.

RIM BlackBerry used to rule the roost in the smartphone realm, but that has changed dramatically. Appcelerator in its survey saw record-low interest in the platform on the part of developers (chart at left, depicting percentage of interest among developers surveyed). There could be light at the end of the tunnel next month, though, when the QNX-based BlackBerry 10 OS is set to arrive. Developers are optimistic about the upgrade and its UI improvements and development options.

Software infrastructure, such as code-hosting facilities, can at face value seem like dry plumbing, only interesting to the developers who rely on it. But the GitHub code-hosting and sharing site enthused investors at the Andreessen Horowitz venture capital firm enough to invest $100 million in the site. GitHub, based on the open source Git software version control system developed by Linux founder Linus Torvalds, has become the “de facto social network for programmers,” Andreessen Horowitz general partner Peter Levine said.